LA TRAVIATA FOR OUR TIMES<\/p>\n
One could imagine to the modern eye a 19th century classic like La Traviata would be only a sweet echo of a distant time. But nothing can be further from the truth. The great composer, Giuseppe Verdi, was captured by a contemporary story about people in Paris. The premiere was done in contemporary dress to bring the audience face to face with situations and emotions from their own times and lives.<\/p>\n
In that spirit we have set the story in our own time, in our own place.\u00a0\u00a0 Violetta, a young career woman in Toronto, also lives the life of a party girl as she suffers quietly from cancer. She and Alfredo meet, fall in love, enjoy raves and live an alternative lifestyle until Alfredo’s father, fearing for the family\u2019s reputation, pleads that Violetta end her love affair with Alfredo. Violetta feels the old man\u2019s pain and cuts the ties to her lover. At a party she honours her pledge to Alfredo\u2019s father, even as Alfredo disgraces himself in an ugly altercation.<\/p>\n
Months later, her disease has taken over and she is terminal. Violetta generously donates the rest of her money to charity but still longs for the love of her life. Alfredo finds her in a hospital bed and is crushed by her condition. Irrationally they sing of plans for a future together, but Violetta cannot fight her cancer any longer. She dies in his arms, with Alfredo\u2019s father looking on in guilt.<\/p>\n
Love and loss is the human condition. This is the genius in what Verdi created when he set to music the love and loss of people of his time in Paris. Today the Toronto City Opera will bring that story into our city, our time, and into your hearts<\/p>\n
Violetta Val\u00e9ry \u2013\u00a0<\/span>Beth Hagerman<\/p>\n Alfredo Germont \u2013\u00a0<\/span>Kijong Wi<\/p>\n Giorgio Germont \u2013\u00a0<\/span>Handaya Rusli<\/p>\n Gastone de Letori\u00e8res \u2013\u00a0<\/span>Jeffrey Smith<\/p>\n Flora Bervoix \u2013\u00a0<\/span>Lillian Brooks<\/p>\n